Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 31, 1955)

Page scan 0003 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Aug 31, 1955
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 31, 1955)
Leaf #:
0003
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Canadian Film Weekly

  • Editor: Hye Bossin (1942-64)
  • Renamed Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly (1965-69, editor: Stan Helleur)
  • Renamed Candian Film Weekly(1970, editor: Ed Hocura)

Canadian Film Weekly (1942-70) was edited by Hye Bossin and published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., wholly owned by leading exhibitor, Nat Taylor. In the late 1930s, Taylor was head of the Independent Theatre Association and his Toronto-based chain, Twinex-Century (Twentieth Century), was the largest independent circuit in the country. In 1941, however, he negotiated for chain affiliation with upstart Canadian Odeon before leveraging a better deal and greater booking control with nationally-dominant Famous Players Canada, Ltd. No longer independent, he took ownership of the Independent Theatre Association’s semi-monthly magazine, The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (1940-41), installed Hye Bossin as editor, and laid plans to relaunch in January 1942 under a new name, Canadian Film Weekly. This enduring key publication was no longer solely focused on independent exhibitors but instead covered the entire industry on a national scale–exhibition, distribution and production–with some attention given to studio news from New York and Hollywood.

Bossin was a vibrant writer with a canny way with words, admired in the industry in the United States as well as Canada. He was one of a large family who lived above their father’s secondhand shop in the Jewish “ward” downtown in Toronto. His older brother was a bookie with ties to the underground; his younger brother was a famous journalist, protégé of Walter Winchell, and Hollywood screenwriter. In contrast, Hye spent nearly two decades learning the publishing trade in a printers’ shop before trying a stint as a Hollywood publicist, then writing a column for the Toronto Star Weekly before taking Taylor’s offer to edit the Film Weekly. Bossin was central to the creation of the Canadian Film Archive, the Canadian Film Awards, and he wrote some of the first histories of early cinema in Canada, published in the first volumes of the annual Canadian Film Weekly Year Book (1951-70).

In 1957, the Film Weekly had incorporated the rival Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1917-57), and began dating its start to that paper’s earlier start as the Canadian Universal Bulletin (1915-18). Subsequent variants of the Canadian Film Weekly and its yearbooks always claimed their roots all the way back to 1915 and the origins of the film industry trade press in Canada. After Bossin died in 1964, the Weekly’s new editor, Stan Helleur, renamed the magazine Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, scaling back the pace of publishing but adding a purview for television and broadcasting. The annual was renamed similarly, its subtitle amended to “Year Book of the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” An attempted renewal to weekly format in 1970, edited by Ed Hocura, was short-lived and Nat Taylor decided instead to relaunch under an entirely new title, Canadian Film Digest (1971-77) and Canadian Film Digest Yearbook (1971-86).

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

  • Bossin, Hye. “Canada and the Film: The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 21-41. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951.
  • Moore, Paul. “Chronicling a National History: Hye Bossin’s Canadian Film Weekly and Year Book.” In Eric Hoyt and Kelley Conway, eds., Global Movie Magazines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024.

Date Added:
August 01, 2024
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

& ONTARIO ODEON MANAGERS AND WIVES PREY NEW ODEON DRIVE (Continued from Page 1) tion.” The basis of the drive is the gathering of points, which will reward managers on the principle of “the greater the boxoffice receipts over quota, the bigger the prize.” A sliding scale will be employed. Previously drives of this nature made prizes aavilable only to the toppers in edch division. Through this competition every manager employed by Odeon Theatres can win one or more of the articles, depending on the amount of effort he puts into in creasing his ticket sales. A handsome 50-page catalogue lists hundreds of premiums, ranging from a pair of socks to a refrigerator, a TV set or a bedroom suite, and the point value of each. This is the first time that a { Canadian drive will give each manager an opportunity. to win, for his theatre will not compete with any other. He will be working only against the past performance of his own house and the better he does the more points he garners and the more valuable the prize he can choose. The big Belnap and Thompson (Canada) Limited book of prizes has been sent to each manager. In the first week of the drive, which begins Labor Day . and runs for 13 weeks to December 3, the average theatre is expecfF ted to get 20,000 points and from there it can be maintained, increased or decreased. Jim MHardiman’s advertising and publicity department has sent out a great deal of mater jal covering the drive to each | — manager and the idea has caught fire. Enthusiastic response has been forthcoming from supervisors and managers, who are anxiously champing at the bit answer to those who are crying the boxoffice blues and bemoaning the inroad TV is making on attendance figures. In this picture we see Odeon managers from Toronto, Hamilton, Aurora, Newmarket and Brampton, along with their supervisors and Jim Hardiman, publicity chief, as they prepared for the ‘Odeon Live Like a King Ticket Sellebration."’ They gathered at Belnap & Thompson's plant near Toronto to look at the vast array of goods that they could win through a point system based on increased business in their theatres. This is the first time an unlimited contest has been tried in Canada, —Photo by Bob Ellis of The Royal Studios $25,000 Loss In Theatre Fire A forgotten cigarette was the cause of a recent fire in the balcony of the Hollywood Theatre, Niagara Falls, Ontario, which did damage estimated at $25,000. Passerby Spots Theatre Blaze Serious damage to the Hollywood Theatre, Toronto was avoided when a passerby noticed the smoke and turned in an alarm. Firemen put out the blaze. EXCLUSIVE CANADIAN DISTRIBUTORS FOR PROJECTION & SOUND EQUIPMENT established through years of theatre experience \ —it assures you of the finest quality projection and sound equipment. DSEL stands for service that keeps your box office always open for \ business. Je DSEL is also headquarters for Altec Stereo\ phonic Sound—Wide Screen Equipment— Generators and Rectifiers—All Projection Requirements —Cycloramic Screens. + DOMINION SOUND Equipments Limited to get started. It is Odeon’s | / Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, North Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver. + mieres. OLD-TIME IDEAS (Continued from Page 1) more blase as time went on, sometimes talking about a top quality film with afterwards. The best time for the preview it at about 8:30 p.m. on a day near the close of the run of the regular feature. The audience is bright and fresh and gets its best reaction then. Any kind of a good picture gets a hand and is talked about later. Several major distributors have said okay to making their features available for such pre indifference The personal appearance idea »+ has come back strongly as was ; shown in leading Canadian cities | through Richard Todd and Jack Webb, the recent visits of | both through Warner Bros. Not only did press, radio and TV give “; them all the attention they de HEAD OFFICE: 4040 St, Catherine Street West, Montreal. \ | BRANCHES AT: Halifax, Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, i DS-55-23 ' sired, but the two appearances in ; each theatre drew lineup busi | ness and gave the boxoffice last| ing strength. Todd was here to help The Dam Busters, an AB-P producCENTURY is a name that is solidly | | | tion distributed on this continent by Warners, and Webb came in } support of his Pete Kelly’s Blues. It’s a little easier to get stars for p.a.’s now, since so many of them have an interest in the pictures in which they appear. Canadian distributors have been quick to recognize the outstanding response to the personal presence of a picture’s leading player. It ' also helps future features in which he appears if they have any measure of quality. Soon due in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver is Cary Grant, who will take some bows in front of Alfred Hitchcock’s newest VistaVision feature for Paramount, To Catch a Thief, in which he stars. It may be that other ideas | that haven’t been used so much in recent years can be brought back with the same good results,